In Sullivan, S., Baussant, M., Dodd, L., Otele, O. and Dos Santos, I. Cross-case synthesis: faire ensemble / doing together. Conserveries Mémorielles: Revue Transdisciplinaire 25 Special Issue ‘Disrupted Histories, Recovered Pasts | Histoires Perturbées, Passés Retrouvés’.
For our interviewees: |
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Baussant |
Dodd |
Dos Santos |
Otele |
Sullivan |
What is the disruption, when? |
– 1948 and the creation of the State of Israel – 1956 and the Suez Canal War – 1967 and the Six-Day War |
– WW2 precipitating multiple ‘whens’ (depending on personal context), e.g. 1939 separation from family, 1940 bereavement and/or exodus, 1943 evacuation, 1945 return;
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– 1961 Baixa do Cassange uprising massacre, precipitating colonial and/or civil war; |
– 1990s to 2017, their lives in their country of origin, precipitating migration as refugees and migrants who settled in Britain |
– settler colonialism, esp. from late 1800s; – settler land appropriations, followed and formal apartheid restrictions on mobility; – creation of livestock-free and restricted mining areas = evictions; |
What is disrupted? |
– an anchorage in the country -transmission between generations – the trajectory of their lives – permission to stay in the country – permission to re-enter the country – a privileged and cosmopolitan lifestyle – the organization, the presence and existence of a religious community – two inextricably intertwined parts of identity: Jewishness and “Egyptianity” |
– a set of family relationships – a sense of belonging to place/people – potential: futures and life-course trajectories; – emotional composure |
– depending on the length of time in Angola: a) a three-generation anchorage in a land to which one feels one belongs; b) for late arrivals (1950s-60s) = hopes of a better life (social mobility, enrichment); – A way of life for the privileged (domestic staff); – the imperial history of Portugal (end of the 3rd empire) |
– family unit; |
– access to land areas considered home; – family networks and associations; – dwelling, mobility and livelihood practices |
What is lost/how? |
– Egyptian nationality – feeling to have lost their history as individuals and as a community when leaving Egypt -Jewish archives, religious artefacts and community documents that allow proving a Jewish identity -social and family status, especially for fathers – material belongings and social living spaces – close family relationships through departures and dispersion, friendships and professional relationships (especially with domestic workers, sometimes described as family members) – the dead buried there – the tangible and intangible symbols of the community and its participation in Egyptian culture and history – the feeling to participate to a cosmopolitan way of life – the “golden age” of Egyptian Jewry – link to an Egyptian Jewish tradition – for some, the links with Egypt – other people with whom to speak about Egypt and the ability to share memories |
– silencing of evacuation experience in postwar by parents; – silencing in History; – attempts to recover rebuffed;
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– a happy life and hope for a prosperous future; – a social status (ruling class); – a way of life of the “privileged” combined with an idea of strong closeness to the Angolan Africans (“Blacks”); – the feeling of being useful to one’s country of origin, i.e. strong support for the colonization-civilization project; – the feeling of belonging to an African territory: linked with ideas of nature and space (immensity of the territory), and cultivated land; – the dead buried there; – material goods: houses and workplaces (shops, colonial administrations); – moral freedom (the metropolis being more affected by censorship/self-censorship), especially for women; – social ties: family, friends, professionals; – “civilization” (feeling of leaving civilization by leaving Angola and arriving in Portugal, deemed a backward country); – hope for a different project of independence: Angola led by “white” Angolans; – the end of the empire |
-connection with families; |
– dwelling places and livelihoods; – access to pastures and specific foods, including huntable animals; – sources of livelihood; |
What is recovered, how? |
– material places of family and community history: synagogues, schools, flats, shops, cemeteries, on the occasion of “return” to Egypt after the Camp David treaty (1978); – parents who remained in Egypt and relations with friends in Egypt – the memory of a golden age in Egypt for Egyptian Jewry – the opportunity to speak with other Egyptian Jews and Egyptian people and to share pictures, documents, happy memories of life in the country; – a growing network of inter-knowledge through websites dedicated to Egyptian Jewry, Egyptian Jewish heritage, archives, etc.; – in Israel, memories shared in the public space through the claim of the status of Jewish refugee, memory events and commemoration (in Israel, USA, UK and Canada especially); – the memories of manifestations of antisemitism in Egypt and what happens to Jews in 1967 – At the same time, the memories of a harmonious life between religious communities in Egypt – preservation and restauration of tangible symbols of Egyptian Jewry in Egypt (synagogues, cemeteries…) – a recognition of their link to Egypt, even when they have lost their Egyptian nationality (the possibility, for example, to benefit from the same rates in hotels or museums as the Egyptian nationals); – a shared memory of places, people and geographies with old Egyptian people – a link created between the first departure of Egypt in the Biblical times and their second departure – links with Egyptian culture and uses of Egyptian Arabic – Egyptian Jewish traditions (hazanout, rituals …) – ties with previous origins before Egypt – notably Syria, especially in the USA
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– physical (and mental?) health recovered through evacuation; – recognition of experiences, and knowledge of experiences recovered through speaking in the present; – opportunity to express gratitude to host families; – agency to define and describe their experiences, including expressions of contrary pasts; |
– material places of family history: houses, shops, hospitals (birth/death places, cemeteries), on the occasion of “return” to Angola in the context of migration/expatriation from the mid-2000s, following end of the civil war in 2002; – parents who remained in Angola, whose existence may have been hidden (in the case of transnational reconstituted families); – happy memories of life in Angola and unhappy memories of repatriation and reintegration into Portuguese society: memories shared in the public space on the occasion of memory events in Portugal, documentaries, readings of autobiographical novels on the Retornados (e.g. O Retorno de Dulce Cardoso, 2011); – network of inter-knowledge through the construction of a collective memory and archives, etc.; – the social recognition by Portuguese society of a traumatic experience lived; – a nationality: steps to acquire Angolan nationality for individuals who can prove the birth of ancestors on Angolan territory; – genealogical continuity; – the hope of a better life through a life project (economic, family, citizen) in Angola: social mobility, mixed marriages, political project; – the experience of a “lusophone” cosmopolitanism (post-imperial?) |
– life; |
– memories of places of past dwelling; – place-names re-mapped; – sharing of cultural heritage practices; – esteem regarding cultural heritage practices and knowledges; – voice regarding occluded knowledges and experiences; – grief at lost pasts and futures |
For public history/historical narrative: |
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What is the disruption? When |
– the abolition of capitulations and the suppression of mixed courts in Egypt (1937) – the overthrow of the Farouk king in 1952 and the monarchy in 1953 by Naguib – the Independence of Egypt in 1922 and the foundation of the Republic of Egypt in 1953 – Nasser’s accession to power in 1956 – the end of one of the oldest Jewish community in the Middle-East – the Suez Canal War in 1956 – the recognition of Jewish refugee status from the countries of Islam in USA (2008) and Israel (2010) by Israeli and international associative activists, political and academic actors – the 2011 revolution in Egypt – the rewriting of the expulsion of Jews from Islamic countries presented as a new debt of the Palestinians, for the spoliations, forced departures and abuses committed by some Islamic countries towards local Jewish communities |
– the intrusion of ‘amateur’ versions of the past during the interview |
– the Carnation Revolution in Portugal (fall of the Salazarist dictatorship), April 25, 1974; – Angolan independence (November 11, 1975); – Angolan airlift from Angola between August and November 1975; – the colonial war and/or the civil war 1975-2002; |
– prevalence of written material over testimonies; |
– 1800s = increasing shaping of local social relations by European interest, e.g. game hunters, mineral prospectors, missionaries; – end of WW1-1990 = administration by South Africa = apartheid, increased appropriation of land by settler farmers, increased wildlife conservation concerns and land designations |
What is disrupted? |
– the Israeli national narrative -a shared understanding of the history and status of Jews as refugees between Israel and the diaspora – the classical imaginary -both among the Jewish worlds and beyond – about the Egyptian Jewry as one on the oldest Jewish community in the middle-east – the discourse on religious tolerance in Islamic countries – in Egypt,understanding of the former Jewish presence in the country to criticize the current situation of specific groups, that present a sometimes truncated and anachronistic vision of the Egyptian Jews – the victim-perpetrator frontier concerning the case of subaltern minorities implicated with colonial regimes |
– understand-ing of war, children and victimhood; |
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– comfort of written material over oral material |
– easy linear narratives that exclude heterogeneity and complexity, particularly regarding ‘the other’; – ideas about the past emptiness of the landscape; – assumptions about the existence and perspectives of displaced peoples |
What is lost/how? |
– a narrative on the historical, geographical and social complexity of the Jews in the countries of Islam and Egypt – the opportunity of reintegrating older Jewish communities into this narrative, such as the Karaites – a common vision of their trajectory among the Jews of Egypt, between those who remained behind, those in the diaspora and those in Israel – an ability in Egypt to look at the past and its history, encompassing both the former minorities and the Egyptians’ view of their history – the possibility of thinking about the past of the different religious minorities in Egypt other than in terms of pairs which maintain proximities or oppose each other – Jewish archives and documents in Egypt
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– ownership / hegemonic grip by elites [?];
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– usual norms about history and chronology; |
– some certainties and knowledges concerning peoples and pasts in particular places and landscapes |
What is recovered, how? |
– some archives and documents collected by the Israeli authorities, sometimes unofficially repatriated by Egyptian Jews or remaining in Egypt – religious buildings and cemeteries preserved and restored in Egypt -the history of the Egyptian Jewish community in recent times – the history of the Jews in Islamic countries and their contributions to the culture of their country. – the difficulties of Jews from Islamic countries in Israel and how they have been marginalized in various ways especially in Israel – the history of Egyptian Jews in 1967 – the paradoxical result of denying to the Palestinians the loss of home and homeland and claiming the Jewish status of refugee to gain their own home and homeland. This political and cultural effort leads to inextricably intertwine the destinies of the Jews of Islamic countries and those of the Palestinians
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– little-used archival records; |
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– new ways of understanding narrative construction; notion of ‘emplotment’ through testimonies and capacity to regain sense of self and empowerment through spoken words |
– multiplicity of narratives about the past for specific places and landscapes; |
For us/me as researcher: |
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What is the disruption? When |
– the three waves of departure (1948, 1956, 1967) – the emergence and expression of a feeling of foreignness in Egypt – the abandonment of Egyptian traditions and language by the Jews in Egypt – the existence of an Israeli state and an Egyptian Jewish diaspora
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– the Carnation Revolution in Portugal (fall of the Salazarist dictatorship), April 25, 1974 ; – The independence of Angola (November 11, 1975); – The colonial war: 1961-1974 (the massacres of indigenous Africans; |
– narratives about people of African descent, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees pre and post Brexit campaign vs UK humanitarian principles/openness, since the 1990s |
– assumed knowledges derived from texts and elite perspectives; – ontological assumptions regarding the types of being that are considered to exist and assert agency |
What is disrupted? |
– the presence and the existence of local Jewish communities in Egypt and its continuity – transmission of the past in the present – links with documents, artefacts and religious activities that shaped Jewish life and identity. – the links with the population and life in Egypt – established narratives concerning Jewish history in islamic countries |
– established practices of historical interpretation; – archival/paper research practices |
– colonization: presence of “settlers”; |
– written material (archives) opposing stories of resilience; |
– received wisdoms about natures, cultures and places |
What is lost/how? |
– the past and the ordinary representations of the past in Egypt, as carried by all the different actors – academic and scholarly hegemony over knowledge production; – the diversity of interpretations and the complexity of historical trajectories
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– scholarly hegemony over knowledge production; – interpretive certainty; – outward trappings of scholarly rigour |
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– opportunities to bring communities together and celebrate Britain’s cultural diversity beyond the usual and historical ties with people outside the Commonwealth |
– colonial / apartheid rationalities and certainties |
What is recovered, how? |
– the Egyptian traditions and language by the Jews in Egypt once in exile -heterogeneity of narratives on the experiences and departures – memories of cosmopolitanisms and coexistence – living ties to Egypt, in the past and in the present – the diversity of the Jews of Egypt in their positions regarding for example Israel, the Palestinian issue, Egypt and religion |
– connection – recognition of emotional dimensions (me, them) |
– heterogeneity of narratives on the colonial experience and repatriation; |
– stories of resilience; – achievements; |
– indigenous / local perspectives that have been marginalised; – different ways of framing and thinking about people / land relationships; – different ways of understanding the natures of an area that currently has high conservation value; – different future possibilities for place-linked cultural memories and heritage practices
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For geographies / territories / places : |
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What is the disruption? When |
– the disappearance of social spaces – the process of depopulation and repopulation of urban spaces – the disappearance of specific places, buildings |
– war and end of war redrew map in France: – new borders and boundaries, visible, psychological, emotional; – evacuation disrupted understandings of ‘home’ as place; |
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– exodus of people from country of origin; |
– people moved off the land and replaced by new forms of access associated with commercial hunting and tourism, and conservation |
What is disrupted? |
– sense of belonging to one place – the ability to recognize the places and to connect with the past
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– sense of belonging to one place – spatial trajectories are multiple; |
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– community building including social, economic and cultural value in country of origin |
– presence of diverse peoples; |
What is lost/how? |
– sense of place – buildings, cemeteries, collective sites of memory and belonging – the ability to recall the past or to recognize their former social spaces by returning to the places |
– attachment to a place (‘home’) via family separation (evacuation) in wartime; |
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– people’s skills; |
– as above, i.e. knowledges and practices regarding environmental use and care that become occluded and marginalised |
What is recovered, how? |
– Places that have disappeared, ghostly places through the on-site connection with Egyptians who remember and with other Egyptian Jews in the diaspora, in Israel and Egypt – sometimes a feeling of a recovered “Neshama” (breath in Hebrew) and “Nefesh” (soul) when Egyptian Jews gather in Egypt during return trips, especially when visiting Jewish sites – a lasting and renewed bond with Egypt and the Egyptians – the ability to preserve and promote traces of their past and their existence in Egypt |
– understanding socio-spatial belonging as multiple and heterogeneous; |
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– sense of hope; abilities to tell one’s story and contribute to new communities following migration |
– place-names and cultural knowledges; |